Page 45 of A King's Oath

Samarth froze. Not only his throat, his whole mouth dried. Announcing to the entire class was one thing. Telling his father that he was dating was… quite another. He didn’t want to keep secrets from his father but this was… something he wished he would be able to tell him at a stage when things were more solid. Not that they weren’t right now! But he… his whole face felt hot.

Papa’s hand clapped on his shoulder, his quiet teasing laugh heavy — “She plays women’s cricket, that’s what I meant.”

Samarth’s eyes squeezed shut and he shook his head.Shit.What was he giving away by acting like a cartoon? And didn’t he know his father’s jokester side?

“Get your colour under control before you turn to them,” Papa pointed. “And be respectful.”

“Yes, Papa,” Samarth intoned, working to school his features and his skin.

“I’ll call you tonight,” his father set his hand atop his head, looked at him with that same expression he had looked at him with every time he departed on a trip. This time it lasted longer. Samarth knew why. This was a trip slightly more… uncertain than the rest. His father would be travelling to the remote continent of Antarctica to perform research with a team of professionals from different countries. It was a 10-day expedition and Samarth had the itinerary on his phone, laptop and copied in a notebook. He would keep track of everything.

Papa patted his head, then turned and climbed up the stairs. Samarth stepped back as the carpet was rolled, the stairs pushed back and the plane drove to the runway. He remained there with everybody else, standing in protocol as Rawal’s plane took off to the end of the world — literally. He hoped his Papa would begin to live his life now. He wished his Papa would realise that he was on the verge of becoming an independent adult soon. And that a Rawal, a father, a son aside — as Siddharth Sinh Solanki, his Papa still had a life to live.

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“Oh my gaaawwwddd, Samarth! How are you so freaking dense!” Ava clawed her hands through her hair and pulled. Samarth winced, eyeing the mess he had made of the test she had given him. Sitting cross-legged on her bed, with the textbooks and notebooks and copies of topo maps betweenthem, all his hopes of some cuddle time with Ava had gone down the drain.

It was way past 11 now and for three hours, all she had done was explain concepts to him, pointed out symbols, defined them, broken down the meanings. And for a student who prided his grasping power, Samarth had been ashamed to admit that he had only stared at Ava’s mouth for half of that duration, not in a romantic trance but in frustrating blankness.

She read that frustration on him and reached out to grab his collar.

“Whaaa…” he couldn’t complete as she tugged him close and gave him a kiss.

“Didn’t make my mood better,” Samarth grumbled.

“Then this might,” she pulled him to her side, on her pile of princess pillows set on the headrest. Samarth stretched out, staring at her ceiling. She pulled open his arm and laid her head on his shoulder.

“Ok,” she said. “Let’s make this a little fun.”

“Forget it, I’ll go to Ms. Shanaya tomorrow and ask for extra classes…”

“Wait, wait, let’s try this first.”

Her hand came up with one of their textbooks and she held it in front of their faces. “Where were we?”

“Contour lines.”

“Yes, contour lines — see these three tiny bumps in a row?” She pointed. “They are… Cherry’s footprints in the mud. And where does Cherry love to ride?”

“In the hills.”

“And look at it! These three bumps represent a hill!”

“So, Hill = Cherry’s footprints in the mud,” Samarth felt his mind suddenly open up. “Ok, yes, that makes sense. Next?” He turned and tightened his arm around her, pulling her and the textbook closer.

“Now,” she pointed to the next symbol — a wavy blue line. “This is a river. So… imagine it’s the track your horses make into the field when they gallop, all fluid and winding.”

“Ok, got it. And this?”

Ava leaned closer, pressing a finger to a cluster of tiny triangles. “Mountains. But for you, think of them as the ear tips of your horses standing in a row, watching you mess up a penalty shot.”

Samarth groaned. One penalty shot. He had missedonepenalty shot in front of her and she wouldn’t shut up! Ava giggled, nudging his chin with her nose.

“You’re never letting that go, are you?”

“Never,” she said, grinning. “Now, one more. Forests. This one’s easy.” She pointed to a patch of clustered dots. “Think of them as a field full of horses’ tails swishing together in the wind. The place where all your horses can run wild, get to eat all the good stuff they want, andenjoy!”

He stared at the page, then at her, shocked. “You’re actually good at this.”

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